And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32) >Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 22:26:51 +0100 >To: Chris Spotted Eagle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Lulu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Elsie Herten/KOLA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Gary Night Owl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: Celine - CSIA/LPSG-France <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Fwd : Native Americans on death row - update : John Walter > Castro, Joe Ernest Atkins and Randy Reeves > >Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 21:41:40 -0000 >From: Mandy Hampson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: John Castro (Oklahoma) > >I just spoke to Karen Woo, a friend of John Walter Castro's, and she asked >me to let you all know that John was turned down for clemency 4-0 so his >execution is likely to go ahead on January 7th. John would like to thank you >all for writing so many letters on his behalf; it was very much appreciated. >Karen and her family would also like to thank everyone for their help. > > >Joe Ernst Atkins (SC) >January 22, 1999...6:00pm(est) > Joe was convicted of the 1985 murders of his father, Benjamin Atkins and >his neighbor, Karen Patterson. During the penalty phase of his trial, a >prior homicide conviction was presented as aggravating circumstance. Six >weeks after Joe returned from Vietnam, he murdered his brother who had >terrorized and abused him all of his life. On the day Joe returned from >Vietnam, for example, his brother stabbed him in the abdomen. Joe was >given a life sentence, but paroled after eight years. > For years after his release, Joe was a peaceful, productive member of >society. He lived with his father who physically abused him regularly. > There was no mitigating evidence presented at Joe's trial. On top of >the abuse he suffered at the hands of his family, Joe suffers from post >traumatic stress disorder brought on by his time in Vietnam. His attorney >failed to mention his military service and honorable discharge. It was >brought to light, after the trial, that one juror had brought a bible to >the sentencing stage of the trial and quoted verses to the other jurors. > Joe is the only Native American on South Carolina's death row. He is yet >another example of the lack of mental health care provided to war veterans. > >Please Contact: > >Governor David Beasely >PO Box 11369 >Columbia, SC 29211 >(803) 734-9818�phone >(803) 734-1598�fax >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Department of Corrections >Attn: Director's Office >4444 Broad River Road >Columbia, SC 29221 > >Board of Pardons >PO Box 50666 >Columbia, SC 29250 >(803) 734-9278�phone > >For More Information: > >South Carolina Coalition Against the Death Penalty >6248 Yorkshire Drive >Columbia, SC 29209 >Bruce Pearson�contact >(803) 776-7471�phone >(803) 777-9064�fax >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 10:25:20 -0600 >Reply-To: "Abolish (Capital Punishment)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sender: "Abolish (Capital Punishment)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: Rick Halperin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: death penalty news---NEBRASKA >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >NEBRASKA----Dec. 18, 1998---- > >Supporters Gather To Stop [Reeves] Execution > >By John Fulwider >Lincoln Journal Star, 12/18/1998 > >(Lincoln, NE) In the same house where Randolph Reeves stabbed Janet Mesner >and Vicki Lamm 18 years ago, more than 50 people gathered Thursday night to >oppose the killer's execution. > >A picture of Reeves sat between pictures of Mesner and Lamm on a table in >the entryway. Members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, and >invited ministers from the Jewish and Catholic faiths greeted each other >before taking seats on metal folding chairs in a small, spare rectangular >room. > >They had come from New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Indiana and >Iowa to attend the meeting and offer their support in opposing Reeves' >execution, scheduled for Jan. 14. > >Quaker worship meetings are held in silence until someone is moved to >speak. A period of silence follows each time a person speaks. > >The group invited a Journal Star reporter to attend the meeting. A >condition of the invitation was that no notes be taken or recordings made; >therefore, this story is prepared from the writer's memory. > >The first person to speak, a man, asked those present to "hold in the >light," or pray for, Attorney General Don Stenberg, who the man said had >made "cold and calculated" comments regarding the execution. A woman asked >for prayers for Gov.-elect Mike Johanns, who could grant Reeves clemency. >She asked that people consider Johanns' power to decide whether Reeves >lives or dies. No man or woman should have that say, she said. > >Another woman recalled a book she had read where people's souls existed >apart from their bodies in animal form. At one point in the book, someone >tries to cut a young person's soul away, and that reminded the woman of the >planned execution. She compared executions to tearing away the connections >between people in the community. > >The evening concluded with shaking of hands and singing of a hymn, "There's >a Wideness to God's Mercy." The hymn ended: "If our love were but more >simple, we should take him at his word, and our lives would be all >sunshine, in the sweetness of our Lord." > > >### > >The following letters appeared in today's newspapers. > >from Lincoln Journal Star, Letters 12/18/98 > >"Death penalty stupid" > >If you are a very pragmatic person, maybe you don't care whether the death >penalty is unfair, cruel, ineffective and vengeful, although it is all of >those things. You should, though, oppose it because it is >stupid. > >It is stupid because the appeal process, which is necessary in order to >reverse wrong convictions, is long and costly to both the defendant and the >state, and it must often be done frantically as the date of execution >approaches. And we now know that streamlining the process will be bad, >because a wrong conviction is sometimes discovered many years after the >crime was committed. > >It is stupid because it is a bad example to our children, who will get the >clear message that revenge is what society sanctions, even though we might >preach the opposite. > >It is stupid because it says that revenge is the equivalent of "justice for >the victim." > >Edgar Pearlstein, >Lincoln > >### > >from Omaha World Herald, Public Pulse, 12/18/98 > >"Death Penalty Racist" >From: Jeremy Patrick, Chadron, Neb. > >The academic community accepts the fact that the death penalty in the >United States is inherently racist. The fact that Randy Reeves is a Native >American is further proof of this fact. The United States and Japan are the >only modern industrialized nations that still have the archaic death >penalty. Hundreds of studies have shown that the death penalty does not >deter crime and is often more expensive than life in prison. Furthermore, >inmates are rescued from death row every year by new DNA evidence. This >shows that innocent people have been murdered with our death penalty. I >encourage people to read the available literature on capital punishment. I >am confident you will see it clearly stated that the death penalty is >racist, does not deter and causes the death of many innocents each year. > > >### > >Nebraskans Against The Death Penalty >1044 H Street >Lincoln, NE 68508 >402-474-6575 >http://nadp.inetnebr.com/ > <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." Please Check it before you send it at: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm
